I hope you've recovered from the holidays and are keeping nice and cozy. It's been a typical January here in the great northwest. I can't complain; the gardens (and the gardener) needed some rest! Still, I couldn't help but force a few bulbs to have tete-a-tete daffodils in the kitchen during this cold and dark month of January.

I have to apologize for not getting this blog out sooner. Painting and writing has been keeping me cheery and busy.

From the requests that I have gotten, I think many of you enjoy embroidering tea towels as much as I do. So, I finally have a new pattern for you - just in time for Valentine's Day.

This can be embroidered in just a couple of evenings. What a sweet gift it would make for a friend.

So, here is the pattern. Just click on the above picture and print on your printer, then transfer to a tea towel. I use 3 strands of floss with a stem stitch. The dots on the frosting are french knots. Sorry I have to say this legalese again, but you know the drill...the design is copyright Nancy E. Mink 2013, so please just use it for your personal use.